Another Dimension of Disaster Recovery

Pan Yi Development and Disaster Management Consultant

APEC Seminar on Capacity Building for Disaster Recovery and Rehabilitation June 27 - 28, 2012 Shanghai, China

I . Achievements of disaster recovery from China Wenchuan Earthquake II. Impacts of natural disasters III. Those that can not be seen… VI. Why, How and What? V. Way forward

Reports on Recovery Achievements after four years

# of victims rescued and recovered # of resident houses rebuilt # of schools rebuilt and reopened # of public service facilities rebuilt and reopened # of road and bridges repaired and reopened # of economic growth

All good news……

Three Factors Contribute to the Positive Development

- People and government’s strong will

- Supports from in-country and overseas

- New modern technologies

Tangible/material vs. • Victims • Property • Economy • Infrastructure • Environment

Intangible/abstract • Social structures • Cultural practices • Livelihoods • Psycho-effects • Cohesion • Homelessness • Motivation • Disruption

Impacts of Disasters

Why the invisibles are important?

How can we see the invisibles?

What to look at, monitor and report？

WHY? Too fast

Focusing on the “hard” side of recovery

Short-term efforts

Ignore people

Over positive

Simplified recovery

HOW ?

Have the motivation to see. Learn to see .

Have the capacity to see. All need to see.

WHAT ?

Community/ Relationship

Children/education Gender

Disability

Livelihoods

Psychological factor

Capacity Environment Legal system

Partnerships building

More…….

An Example

Overall Planning of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake

Rehabilitation and Reconstruction

by the State Council of China

Chapter Six. Public Services Session One. Education and Research

Implementation of education recovery project in the disaster areas, focusing on compulsory education at all levels; reconstruct all kinds of educational infrastructure. Co-ordinate enterprise to reconstruct educational institutions and private educational institutions.

Reconstruction of schools with high quality; expanding the scale of

boarding schools and the proportion of boarders; implementing project to send key teachers to rural primary and secondary schools to support education programs.

In rural areas, high schools and vocational schools (and technical schools)

are to be built in the center of the county towns; the primary layout of primary high school is relatively concentrated in townships; primary schools locate comparatively concentrated.

Rational distribution of reconstruction of kindergarten and special

education schools. Reconstruction of damaged institutions of higher education and

research institutions.

Column 11 EDUCATION

Project Total Sichuan Gansu Shan’xi

Primary school 3462 1973 1194 295

Boarding school

1503 955 253 295

Primacy school Senior grade

970 769 144 57

Boarding school

891 710 124 57

Senior school 153 112 28 13

Vocational school

217 189 20 8

Technology school

60 56 1 3

College 24 22 1 1

Special education school 23 21 1 1

Kindergarten 270 250 17 3

Others 62 62 — —

People-Centered

Rights

Emotion

Motivation

Relationships (with other people and the environment)

Awareness

Behaviors

Readiness/ vulnerability

Livelihoods

Access to information Special needs

Resources

Ethnicity

For officials and practitioners, the great challenge is to calculate the actual loss and see the complexities on the ground.

These challenges need to be kept in mind when measuring and communicating ‘impacts’ and ‘recovery achievements’.

Understanding of un-quantitative aspects is one of the abilities to recover better.

A key to reducing the overall risk is to work closely with the wider community, as well as with each other.

The last but not the least, the black spot:

Challenge and Way-out

Natural forest is a self-protected society that has layers of intertwined and diversified eco-systems.

The rebuilt will never be the same.

Foreign species are imposed with harmful effects.

“Green desert”.

Neat and tidy planted forest kills diversity.

Interactions among plants and animals ignored.

Forest coverage is the single indicator of success.

Survival and needs of vulnerable species ignored.

Natural Forest

Man-made Forest VS.

有所为，有所不为。

The buzz words: Built back better

Sustainable recovery

Holistic recovery Know what to do,

and what not to do. - a Chinese saying